– I was sure I was going to die, says the 24-year-old to news. On the morning of 15 August last year, the newly qualified teacher was to meet his pupils for the first day of school at Aurvoll school. In front of her, a lorry drives out onto Tretten bru and she follows in the car. It all happened very quickly, but today she remembers it like in slow motion. Suddenly the lorry disappears straight down and the entire asphalt gives way under the car she is sitting in. SAVED HERSELF: Mari Slåen partly crawled and partly balanced herself up from the car via a steel girder that was left slightly on the side of the broken road on the broken bridge. Photo: Lars Erik Skrefsrud / news Inside the car compartment, she is thrown from side to side before the vehicle comes to rest with its front end down in the foaming water of Gudbrandsdalslågen. She cannot fathom what has happened. The whole bridge just collapsed. – The only thought I had then was that now I’m going to drown, she says. – Struggling with pain It has almost been ten months since the dramatic accident. She has managed to go to work every single day after what happened. But both the memories and not least the physical pain are still there, she says. – I still struggle today with pain. It is in the neck, back and head. I have a headache almost daily. It’s not optimal, it’s not. But I go for treatment with a physiotherapist every two weeks and receive follow-up from my doctor, she says. STILL GETTING STRESSED: With sunglasses, short sleeves and bright pink trousers, she meets news on this hot summer’s day at Tretten. Mari is still stressed by being at the place where the dramatic bridge collapse happened on 15 August 2022. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news Immediately after the incident, she had many thoughts about what happened. She found it difficult to understand what she had been involved in. She praises the help she has received from family and friends. And she thinks there has been good follow-up from both the employer at Tretten and Gausdal municipality, where she lives. SNAP TOGETHER: This is what it looked like after the Tretten bridge collapsed on the morning of 15 August 2022. On the left is a truck with a trailer that was out on the bridge. On the far right is the car that Mari Slåen drove. Photo: Frode Meskau / news Temporary steel bridge A new, temporary steel bridge will soon be ready at Tretten. It must have only one lane and be light-regulated at each end. Construction manager Anders Fosse Skjåk in Innlandet County says that it is not long until the bridge opens. TEMPORARY STEEL BRIDGE: Construction manager Anders Fosse Skjåk in front of the new, temporary bridge under construction at Tretten. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news – We hope to open in the latter half of June. This is a bridge made up of various steel modules. This is a building set where you build on with parts according to how long you need. There will be one lane for the cars, with a separate pavement separated by railings, he says. And you can now guarantee that this bridge is very safe to use? – This one is designed and built according to normal handbook requirements. So it’s like a normal bridge. He states that the dimensions of the bridge are such that larger trucks and vehicles can use it. – I’m scared Mari Slåen says that she still feels stressed today and thinks it’s “disgusting” to be by the bridge at Tretten. She herself lives in Gausdal and now has to make a major detour via Lillehammer to and from work at Aurvoll school. She will therefore try to use the new, temporary bridge when it is ready. – I’m afraid, I do. But it is not the bridge that will win me over. I will be able to walk over and I will be able to drive over. LIFT AWAY: Nine days after the bridge collapse, the car that Mari was driving was lifted from the remains of soda. On the day of the accident, she had borrowed the car from her parents because her own car was at the workshop. Photo: Roar Berntsen / news She says that some of the children at school were very scared after the accident. Some of them had also seen what happened. And several of the students will also have to use the new bridge like her. Not least because of this, it was important for her to get back to work quickly. – I was very determined that I would return the day after the accident and explain and show myself and that it went very well. And then they had a thousand questions like most children, says Mari. Has your life changed in any way since this happened? – Yes. I have probably become happier in life. I appreciate things more now than before. And I really appreciate family and friends who have been there for me, she says. – DISGUSTING: Mari Slåen says that she still gets stressed and finds it disgusting when she is at Tretten bridge. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news
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Mari Slåen (24) is still struggling with pain after the bridge collapse at Tretten in Gudbrandsdalen – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
